Water Filled Hella lamps in SW Bumper

[BlackWorksInc]

I've been absolutely in love with my SW bumper and have had it installed for about a year now. My only complaint is the turn signal lights.

First I thought that I was going to recieve the LED style ones I saw in the website pictures, but it wasn't a real big deal (was there an option I missed now that I look back on it?)

But the real issue with them has been that they seem to mysteriously fill up with water, my driver's side more than the passenger. I've blown them out and cleaned the o-ring even going as far as to grease it. But even after a light rain or just plain condensation builds up on the inside of the lens all the time and stays there for weeks at a time. Its been driving me nuts.

Anyone else had this issue? I'm thinking of drilling a drainage hole on the bottom of the lens to see if that helps.

 

[needsmoresalt]

I've been absolutely in love with my SW bumper and have had it installed for about a year now. My only complaint is the turn signal lights.

First I thought that I was going to recieve the LED style ones I saw in the website pictures, but it wasn't a real big deal (was there an option I missed now that I look back on it?)

But the real issue with them has been that they seem to mysteriously fill up with water, my driver's side more than the passenger. I've blown them out and cleaned the o-ring even going as far as to grease it. But even after a light rain or just plain condensation builds up on the inside of the lens all the time and stays there for weeks at a time. Its been driving me nuts.

Anyone else had this issue? I'm thinking of drilling a drainage hole on the bottom of the lens to see if that helps.

Yep, I have the same problem. Just disconnected and left them in there. It was not worth the hassle to me to find out.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

LoL I know what you mean, little buggers are a pain to install. It was slow at work today so I went ahead and tore the out, drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom and reinstalled them, we'll see how well they fare in a couple days.

 

[jdkilroy]

Having same issue.

Spoke to SW about it as there was moisture showing up in passenger side light only a week or so after install (heavy rain) I was told I must have screwed up the installation and there was a poor seal somewhere in back of light.

One no longer works and is about 1/3 full of water and the other side has water in it as well but still working.

They are crap lights and SW should stop using them.

I have ordered these from Amazon to replace them:
Pacific Dualies 30100 2 Inch Amber LED Side Marker Round Kit

I'll post install pics.

Not looking forward to it because the Hella's were a royal pain to install and will be a bigger pain to remove without removing the bumper.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Yeah I have the same problem. I like the hole in the bottom idea. Might give that a try. Otherwise might look into an alternative.

 

[forwardnum1]

I threw some KC LEDs on mine after having the same issue, a little wire work later and I havent had any issues.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Well its been a couple days now, usually by the next day on a wet morning like we get in the bay area the turn signals are fogged and fluid filled. So far after drilling the holes, they've been clear as day.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Just an update for anyone who was wondering, holes didn't help any... after a good rain they fogged up like always. Took them apart, blew them dry with shop air them FIPG'd the holes I drilled and the back of the socket where my terminals went in until that puppy was full of goo going up the crimps on the terminals for extra weather sealing! They've been dry as a bone for a week now!

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

I finally put silicon in mine per the instructions and have not had a single problem since.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Should have updated this years ago...

After sealing the socket and hole I drilled the housings STILL filled up with water/collected condensation, particularly on cold days. This went on for years until recently when I was tweaking stuff on the 4Runner and decided to finally do something about it.

Well what I found was that the stock rubber O-Ring that is installed for the Hellas is soft, like marshmallow soft, so I'm guessing in colder weather it's just not sealing well and letting moisture seep in. Pulled the plug out, sprayed the housing with some washer fluid to verify it's water tight and clean up some of the dust and grime (also scrubbed and blew out the socket). After blowing it dry with air I grabbed stiffer Nitrile O-Rings from our Universal Kit in parts, coated them in some rubber grease and then reinstalled the sockets. The first thing I noticed is that I needed to actually push the sockets on this time before turning, where as with the marshmallow rings there wasn't any resistance. So far it's been raining cats & dogs past couple weeks and the turn signals are dry as a bone.

Hopefully that helps anyone who is in the same boat... I think I'll go to LEDs in the near future when I get my hands on a 12-Pin LED Relay or mod the 12-Pin I have now to an 8-Pin.